Now more than a model, new actress Brooklyn Decker freely admits her flaws

WHEN ANDY RODDICK married Brooklyn Decker in 2009, the tennis star bought himself a second wedding band. It was a backup, he said: He'd be taking the ring off so often for workouts and practices that it would be only a matter of time before he lost it. She understood. No problem. Honest.

"Well," Brooklyn says, "I get home from a trip and his ring is unusually shiny—like, ringing out. Really, really shiny. And I knew he'd already been interchanging his two rings, so both were dim. This one is blinding me in the face. This isn't ring one or two. This is a third ring."

Brooklyn called her husband on it. He sheepishly admitted to losing both rings, a fact he'd intended to keep secret. "He tries not to tell me whenever he loses anything," she says. This is a habit she's trying to break him of—not the habit of losing things, necessarily, but the failure to fess up. "Come clean," she says. "Guys should definitely come clean." (What other hidden qualities do women look for in a man? Pick up the The Men's Health Big Book of Sex for mind-blowing sex and relationship tips.)

Tough sell: Men don't readily acknowledge their mistakes. But Roddick—and all men—have plenty to learn from Brooklyn, 25, who also happens to be a professional accountant of her own faults, a woman who actively volunteers to enumerate the times she hasn't measured up.

"I would like to say I've achieved goals, but really, modeling is all luck. You're not really achieving anything. The least hardworking person with a special face can be huge and have a whole world of success."

Ask her about acting and she'll say, "I know I'm not at a place right now where I should be getting the roles and movies that I am." (She has two out now: Battleship and What to Expect When You're Expecting.)

False modesty is an ugly trick some people use, and it is easily spotted. Humility works only when it's genuine, and Brooklyn's certainly is. After conquering modeling, she sought challenge and got it. The set of Battleship—guns, explosions, death to enemies—was far from her sun-dappled comfort zone. Even worse, "I had to do a scene with Liam Neeson, and I was so intimidated," she says. So she told him straight out that she was afraid of working with him.

"He said, 'You've just got to enjoy yourself. Who knows how long this career will last for anybody? If you don't enjoy it, what a waste.'" She memorized. Rehearsed. Worked with a coach. They shot the scene, and it went great.

"If my skill and the talent aren't there yet, the work ethic is," Brooklyn says. "And at the beginning, that's all you can ask of yourself. Eventually the skill will come, but the hard work is something you can control." (Another one of the most hardworking celebs we know? Jason Statham, who lost 17 pounds in 6 weeks. Click here to download The Jason Statham Workout and start revelaing your own action-star abs!)